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You guys just don't get it. We're on another level, like Heaven's Gate level, except they were too mainstream. Labels, man, they're killing this world, do you even think about what you're saying? Opinions are worthless, I mean people give opinions without thinking. How screwed up is this world? You just can't appreciate the cutting social commentary that is video game art these days. Man, you guys are just stupid sheeple. It's just like Picasso. Nobody likes Picasso's work because it's art, but because he's an artist. I once put white paint on white canvas to illustrate the futility of life and conforming to the norm.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It is polished. It is professional. It has perfect pacing. I stopped somewhere around the White Forest Inn, because I realised I did not care anymore about these people, and because the action was so carefully directed I felt like a spectator along for the ride, not Gordon Freeman, Ph.D. making actual meaningful choices (with a crowbar).

Not that you have much choice in an FPS, but at least in something like Unreal I could more or less control how I would approach a situation, which was part of the game, and sometimes it was a bit like actually exploring a place. That was an illusion, but a bearable one. Somewhere between the original Half-Life and Episode Two, it became too much. I suppose the problem with the HL2 episodes is that they do not even feel like games anymore to me.

On the other hand, I loved the hell out of NecroVisioN, and especially how it goes full-on crazy around the halfway point, so it's not just jadedness.

Path of Exile. Theoretically, I should love that game - F2P with only cosmetic microtransactions, heavily inspired by Diablo 2, interesting skill system (the skill gems, not necessarily the 'web') and more to 'do' on level up than in D3, i.e you get to actually click something and it increases stats.
But for some reason, both open beta weekends didn't manage to grab my interest at all, and both times I didn't play much more than an hour. Maybe I should give the game more time to grow on me, but it just seems to lack something, and I'm not entirely sure what that is. Maybe it's the art style and color scheme, which are very... I don't want to say bland, but there's so much brown and grey in the first few areas, with brown and grey monsters sprinkled in between that don't look very interesting. I get they went for a dark and moody atmosphere like the original Diablo, but I think they went a bit too far with it (or I'm totally worng and it's only the starting zone that's like that, which is also a possibility).

Why did the hipster burn his tongue eating pizza? He ate it before it was cool.

Originally Posted by soldant

Sent from my iPhone

Satire's all in the details.

Anyway back on topic: System Shock. Seminal game, must-play, this is a shameful confession. But the controls just seemed too primitive, the li'l clever ideas (things like using audio-logs to tell the story) too cliched, the story setting too talked about and familiar...I couldn't get into it. Convince me I'm missing out I'll give it another go, but until then...

(Oh and of course, being that type of person, my exposure to 2 is pending my completion of 1. So...)

Why did the hipster burn his tongue eating pizza? He ate it before it was cool.

*chortles*

Originally Posted by Keep

Wrong words for wrong crowd dude.

Indeed.

Braid. Fun little puzzle game, but whether 'Tim' (I wonder if Blow realises how odious that name is) is looking for a lover, a bomb or his own rampant asshole bears little relation to the actual mechanics. You could remove all the between fluff entirely and it would be equally as playable, because there isn't much direct connection between the words and the actions (I'd level the same accusation at Bioshock to a degree tbh).

Also rich guy going on about how abstract money is as a concept when he's financially secure never fails to amuse.

Anyway back on topic: System Shock. Seminal game, must-play, this is a shameful confession. But the controls just seemed too primitive, the li'l clever ideas (things like using audio-logs to tell the story) too cliched, the story setting too talked about and familiar...I couldn't get into it. Convince me I'm missing out I'll give it another go, but until then...

(Oh and of course, being that type of person, my exposure to 2 is pending my completion of 1. So...)

So you should put aside being that person and play 2! You'll probably have exactly the same set of problems with it (excluding the controls, which are fine in the second) but the atmosphere is just so damn creepy that you'll probably not notice them to the same extent. Though it shares something in common with Half Life in that there's a sudden change in environment which comes with a definite drop in quality towards the end.

Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2 - Played a good amount of co-op campaigns in L4D1 but not much versus and hardly touched L4D2. I can thank Valve's horrible fanbase of 16 year old 4chan posters for making versus impossible to get into.

There are good, fun communities out there. I joined a primarily L4D-based clan back in 2008, and while we dont play together that often nowadays (due to having played so much L4D), you're welcome to come and join us next time we do. Playing on a modded server that lets you manually switch infected is still great fun with seven other friends on Ventrilo/Mumble, and if you're sick of the maps there are plenty of excellent community-made ones.

My game, on the other hand, would be Far Cry 2.

The checkpoints. Why? The omniscient AI. Why? The suicidal jeeps drive straight toward you at 100mph and ram you off the road whilst peppering you with a million bullets. Why? Its a game that would have been so much better with access to an SDK and a little more community support. Its such a beautiful game world (I'd happily play a safari mod or something) but it is utterly, utterly ruined by poor design decisions.

Also, as many have already said, EVE. I played the extended trial last summer and have been thinking of going back for some time, but then I recall why I never subscribed - I was utterly sick of just running missions, and I'd been told by many people that it was all but impossible to earn good money from piracy. Making ISK, as it was explained to me, is all about missions, mining, trading/hauling or industry, all of which seem very tedious.

I occasionally write things on this website. You can read these things by clicking this thing:www.teamsao.com

Also rich guy going on about how abstract money is as a concept when he's financially secure never fails to amuse.

Celebrities are the worst for doing this: Bono types who ask everyone to donate money to a cause while their donation is to do the concert for free. Unfortunately it's only amusing for a while and then becomes kind of soul destroying.

I'll be surprised if Blows next game is any sort of hit. Braid is a good game but I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those that lots of people bought but most never made it more than half-way through. He also isn't at all adept at playing the media like someone such as Notch is - I remember reading something about his next game a while back but can't remember a thing about it. Most who know about him do so as that pretentious douche who speaks at panels with the airs of a man who has made more than just one game.

Also StarCraft. I love playing it, but I hate playing it in the way you have to play it to be any good at it. If that makes sense.

I am the same way! I really dislike multiplayer games that require a finite number of build orders to be successful. Dawn of War 2 was the same way for me. Also, as I grow older, the dexterity just isn't there so I find myself yelling at those freakin' whipper snappers that have problems maintaining a triple digit apm.

Anyway, what I said was simply that people have each their own perspective and it's inane to judge someone without trying to be in their shoes and try to see their point of view. If that means I'm a hipster, pretentious little twat, then... so be it.